Dawlish.

basil

Distinguished Member
I was born and bred in Dawlish.
After years of being pounded by the sea the wall finally gave way.



 
Last edited:
Just been watching it on the BBC news.
It always amazes me that nature can have such a destructive power!
 
What amazes me is this stretch must have been battered for years and I can only assume would have been subjected to regular checks for erosion etc. in view of the recent weather and it's predictions then why was something not put in place before hand to offer some protection? It seems that in this country we are always picking up the pieces, spending a fortune on repairs then doing nothing to prevent it happening again
Wingy
 
spent many hours pointing and replacing stone that got washed out that wall when work was slow on other sites they would send us to point the wall like penal servitude
 
Wingy has a good point it is always reactive rather than pro active maintenance in this country. Seafront along west hoe has been eroding for years and fell into such a state and then cost a fortune to repair, keeping on top of it would have prevented that. Always trying to save ££ thats the problem.
 
spent many hours pointing and replacing stone that got washed out that wall when work was slow on other sites they would send us to point the wall like penal servitude
Well you obviously didn't do a good enough job
:rofl: ha ha, just kidding...... It was gonna happen sooner or later
 
No stopping nature,this was what happened to one of my fishing stores this morning just one rouge wave was all it took.
View attachment 37693View attachment 37694
Best bit is I've got £12,000 worth of engine sat in there with all the rocker gear off and I don't think it will be covered by insurance and couldn't get it out as the wall is on the verge of collapse the only thing holding it up is the door frames,it will be full of salt water now, ohh happy days!
 
Best thing the MPs need to do now is lobby to get HS2 scrapped and some of the money spent on a new line inland from Exeter to Plymouth then electrify the line from Bristol down when that has been done soon.
 
Should never have been the main line. the best one was scrapped via tavistock. A decision that has cost a lot of bpeople
much extra traveling time over many years.
there was a lot of politicking back at the time, somebody with a lot of pull lived in south devon.
even before that, the line was put in front of houses so the castle could not see it

In Brunels day he would have soon fixed the wall, it only took him a weekend to change broadgauage to standard
from london to penzance
 
This isn't the first time Dawlish rail route has been washed away, if the railway wasn't there the sea would be a mile or more inland by now because they would not have maintained the sea defences. Be careful what you wish for, they should have kept the Tavistock route as well as the coast route but cash is king this is a perfect example of politicians ignoring common sense to save money.
 
Last edited:
Billions on HS2, and all for vanity of those MPs who want to be associated with it, yet they can't spend money to re-route this line away from the coast and behind the town. As CLAYDUSTER says above.
 
What amazes me is this stretch must have been battered for years and I can only assume would have been subjected to regular checks for erosion etc. in view of the recent weather and it's predictions then why was something not put in place before hand to offer some protection? It seems that in this country we are always picking up the pieces, spending a fortune on repairs then doing nothing to prevent it happening again
Wingy
Dawlish Warren has a stretch of wall that has boulders banked up against it. The sea wall in Dawlish stretches from Boat Cove to Langstone Rock apart from a small bit. Probably a distance of one and a half to two miles, god knows how many thousands (or even millions) of tons of boulders that would take.
 
No stopping nature,this was what happened to one of my fishing stores this morning just one rouge wave was all it took.
View attachment 37693View attachment 37694
Best bit is I've got £12,000 worth of engine sat in there with all the rocker gear off and I don't think it will be covered by insurance and couldn't get it out as the wall is on the verge of collapse the only thing holding it up is the door frames,it will be full of salt water now, ohh happy days!

Good luck with that, fella.
 
Back
Top